Are your daily tasks bringing you closer to your goals, or is it busy work that gets you nowhere?

Helping interruptive clients may be hurting your overall business.

Time management isn't just blocking off periods of the day. It’s managing which tasks you do during your time.

Stephen Cooley, who runs the No. 1 Keller Williams team in South Carolina, asks a simple question: What is my time worth?

Cooley learned that if he gave up some activities, it would allow him to put more emphasis on money-making tasks. He knows he can make $500-plus an hour with a client. Anything less than that, and he’ll pay other people to do it. He doesn’t need to be taking signs to houses or making copies of keys. Time is money.

Too many agents understand the concept but still let interruptions eat them alive.

All kinds of interruptions keep us “busy.” Errors in documents need to be fixed. Clients have a quick question. Deals seem to be on the cusp of falling through – unless you intervene.

It’s all work that needs to get done. But at the end of an hour, what exactly was accomplished? There’s a moment when you realize 15 + 15 + 15 + 15 doesn’t equal 60 after the “hour” you slotted to call leads suddenly went on the back burner.

Yes, real estate is a career where interruptions are a regular occurrence. Clients obviously need to be served – but at what cost to meeting your goals? Many of us in real estate have ambitions to close a certain amount of transactions or earn a specific amount of income this year. But how sure are you that the tasks you’re doing every day are bringing you closer to those goals versus busy work that gets you nowhere?

​Work is like a puzzle, and each task is a piece. When you put those pieces together, are they meshing together, or are you cramming them in, trying to make them fit?

Reaching a goal is the same way. There are defined strategies that lead to your target, and there are tactics to execute the strategy. However, interruptions take you off track and put your attention elsewhere. Although you may be helping a client, it may be hurting your overall business more than you know.

Working at BoomTown, I’ve seen the gamut of real estate businesses. Successful agents don’t sprout from anywhere, and neither do successful teams. They rise from time management.

Agents who block off two hours in the morning to call leads and say clearly, “I need to accomplish this task to reach this goal, and no one is going to bother me right now,” are agents who achieve their ambitions. They’re not moving stuff around; they’re being productive.

BoomTown has the same philosophy. We don’t believe you need a bunch of bells and whistles to manage your leads. Otherwise, you’ll be plugging and playing too many things. We believe you should be focused. You need tools that directly tie to success metrics – tools that are simple and easy to use.

When you look at time management, don’t think of it as just blocking off periods of the day. It’s about managing which tasks you do during your time. Every time you give up a minute, you sacrifice your energy, enthusiasm and enjoyment.

Focus your time. Find technology that will become your virtual assistant. Identify what workflow is needed to reach your objective. The reward is 60 minutes of productive tasks that bring you closer to your goal.

Always consider: “What’s this hour worth to me?”

Steven Trice is the managing editor at BoomTown. You can read more articles from him and the BoomTown crew on their blog. Connect with Steven on LinkedIn or follow BoomTown on Twitter. Email Steven Trice